Order. Recognize other member seeking recognition for one minute each. We will hear from our witnesses and we thank them for their patience and understanding. That goes for the audience as well. We have had 16 votes. We thank you for the time. The witnesses prepared statements will be made a part of the record. Members have five days to insert statements and questions for the record subject to the length in the rules. Before we begin, i would like to give my sincere condolences to the family and friends of the five american troops who were killed in afghanistan just yesterday recently. No words can adequately express the debt of gratitude that we owe to those brave troops and our thoughts and prayers are certainly with them and their families at this troubling time. The chair recognizes herself for five minutes. Lessons learned from the u. S. Stabilization of the reconstruction operation in iraq. The purpose of that hearing was to examine the final report to get a better understanding of how the u. S. Approaches reconstruction efforts and where we can improve so we will not be construct combined with the same problem and repeat the same mistakes. The major take away from that hearing in addition to the billions of dollars in wasted theayer money was that United States government was unable to adequately plan, execute, and oversee such largescale operations. Have we learned any lessons from iraq . How we learn to use our assistance more effectively and more efficiently . We may have implemented a fewer forms as a result of the recommendation from these oversight entities in front of us question mark it seems like we still have a long way to go to be Good Shepherds of taxpayer dollars. Several things are strikingly obvious. Gao and cigars have undertaken an important task keeping congress informed on that status of our operations there. With a true prescience winding down, their ability would be severely restricted due to the security situation and lack of access. This will make it difficult for them and for us in Congress Keep proper tabs on all of the u. S. Projects in afghanistan. Another is that for all of our efforts and desire to do good in afghanistan, we have glaring deficiencies that must be addressed. 103 has allocated over billion dollars to afghanistan relief. Back then government is still not capable of handling such a large inclusion of money, goods, and their equipment. It is incapable of achieving longterm stability. Often times usaid would Fund Projects that are too large and too ambitious. It leaves the afghans with facilities that are larger and. Ore expensive to operate used andpitals no one unstaffed because afghans cannot find the funds nor the staff to operate them. These efforts are not economical and are not practical. As a result, it is a waste of taxpayer dollars. The result of this large to incapableoney of can system is twofold. That isrt reads conducted by the joint coalition operational analysis, they determined that the vast influx of money overwhelms the Afghan Governments capacity. This helps foster an environment of corruption that has worked against our interest from the start. As general allen once said, corruption is the existential. Trategic to afghanistan together result is that it created an environment in which we are not tackling the root cause of the issue. The only way for afghanistan to maintain and sustain the progress it has made under these relief and reconstruction efforts is to continue to rely on donor contribution to fill the revenue gap. That is not sustainable for afghanistan, nor is it sustainable or us in the United States. Were losing all of those gains. In 2009, the administration decided it was going to allege to provide 50 of the developmental aid in direct assistance. In fact, gao reports we went over470 million in 2009 to 1. 4 billion in 2010. Year, severalsame reports, including one Commission Directive by usaid, decided have illequipped the afghan ministries were to receive direct assistance. And cigar raise their warning five. Cigar is reporting that usaid had ignored recommendations and may have approved direct assistance without dedicating these risks. How we to conduct proper oversight of state of usaid, dod . Are fullyre they complying with the recommendations of the rules and regulations laid out by congress to make sure u. S. Dollars are put to the best use . Cigar identified several major lessons that should have been learned in iraq that should be applied in afghanistan. These include the need to implement better interagency coordination and use our funds wiser, more efficiently, and more effectively. If we are still running into the same problems in afghanistan as we did in iraq, now that we are transitioning, is it time for congress to reexamine how we conduct these operations and consider implementing muchneeded reform . The obvious answer is yes, of course. With that, i am pleased to yield to the Ranking Member of florida. Thank you, madame chairman. I would also like to give my condolences to the families of the five troops were killed yesterday in afghanistan. We spent a lot of time here talking about what our government does. It is the men and women who serve our government in tough places like this that we need to keep in mind. We need to keep in mind their families. Todays hearing comes on the troops will remain in afghanistan until tony 15. Trillions of dollars and thousands of american lives 2015 greeted trillions of dollars and thousands of american lives have been lost. Those cannot bear any more of American Life sacrifice. A recent gallup poll found for the First Time Since the war in afghanistan began, more americans view the war as a mistake. After the u. S. Has given so much in blood and treasure, what do we have to show for it . Have our resources been wisely spent . The state department of the fence and usaid has projects it off and stand. They have done tremendous work this date department of defense and usaid has projects all over afghanistan. We have done tremendous work. He deserved to be commended for what they are doing. Necessaryting the measures in place to make sure the structure we built to help their society are sustainable and will remain in place long after we leave . Accounting for billions of dollars across multiple agency is so easy task. Agencies is no easy task. We want to combat any potential abuses. In 2008 how congress established a special Inspector GeneralAfghanistan Reconstruction with the goal of not just tracking waste, fraud, and abuse, but do recommend more effective methods of reconstruction in afghanistan. Angst to the work of cigar and oversight investigations conducted by gao thanks to the work of cigar and oversight investigations conducted by gao it is clear evidence of these challenges can be seen throughout our footprint in afghanistan. Gao identified numerous weaknesses and an overlap of funding accounts. Increase the potential for duplication of projects and programs. ,he recommended shared database but it appears little progress to advanced that recommendation has been made. In 2012, gao recommended that Congress Take legislative action to require that u. S. Agencies report information on activities in a shared database. Usaid agreed. Dod did not. Singer has raised serious concerns over the inability to terminate contracts with contractors are found to have insurgent our opposition forces. They lacked authority to terminate the contract. Under existing law, the agency will likely have to pay the full cost of any contract and complete the termination. The implication of these proper forms and other recommendations will help maximize and achieve greater results. Alsomicro level, cigar has had numerous examples of wasted funds. It sat unused in storage control of the u. S. Army corps of engineers. Will highlight other examples of concerns. I would like to use my time on how we can do is fancy Going Forward. Our work will not end with the last american troop leading. Are many ongoing programs have been many successful here and we have made great strides. This amount increases access to education, especially for when. Woman. Will we provide oversight to make sure projects stay on track . It has been used successfully in a number of other challenging environment. There are critical components required for these monitoring programs and whether they believe this type of Remote Monitoring can be successful in afghanistan . Believe we are doing important work that directly impacts the security of this country. It is my hope that the hearing will shed light on how to ensure that congress, state, dod, and usaid are working together in the most effective and efficient way possible. So please to yield to our subcommittee chairman. Andhank you, madam chair, calling for this hearing. Concernss have ongoing about the future of afghanistan. Is obamas recent announcement that he was pulling all but im hundred u. S. Troops out by and pulling all of the troops out by the end of tony 16 is troubling 2016 is troubling. It tells the taliban have to wait or us to leave before they can then at least in their mind take over the country. Puts at riskment im afraid the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform have made in that country, not to mention the billions of dollars the u. S. Has invested in stabilization relief and reconstruction efforts. I fear we may see something similar to what we saw in iraq. They were all pulled out. We sought with fallujah. Saw it with falluja. I would hate to see a repeat of that. Thank you for holding this. Thank you so much. Mr. Hagans of new york. Thank you, madame chair. In one year, we spent 75 in reconstruction. One for turbine in the southwest. 20 30 million for highway project in the east. 230 million for a highway project in the east. The assessment of all of those requires a one that lot of explanation. Approved tot year ,ebuild the bridges in america we spent 89 million over a 12 year period doing that in afghanistan. At the very least, the corrupt nature of the government, the inadequacy of the Afghan Security forces does not justify the commitment that we have made. And forward to listening to the work of Inspector General and the rest of the panel and explain these issues more deeply. Thank you. Thank you, madame chair. I will be short. Lets go. Thank you. Thank you for holding todays hearing. I extend my sympathies to the families of the five soldiers who were killed in afghanistan. We begin drawing down combat operations in afghanistan. The responsibility rested with Afghan People to operate and maintain the civilian and military capacity. The u. S. Has built an important foundation, but the sustainable peace can only be accomplished people afghanistan afghanistan take on responsibility. It has been important to our mission. I hope that all would agree that we need to ensure that whatever funds have been used and will be used are used widely and that theyre building programs that are sustainable and institutions that arent sustainable that are sustainable. A lot of information needs to be provided with a look at the magnitude. I look forward to hearing the two witnesses today. Thank you. Andhank you, chairwoman Ranking Member for calling this important hearing. It is important that we conduct this oversight in order to ensure that american taxpayer dollars are being used appropriately. I want to ensure that various agencies and departments are working efficiently here and making use of best practices. Without appropriate oversight, money will go to waste in afghanistan. I also look for to a discussion of how to discuss with the American People the issue that is the subject of this hearing. Afghanistan is the emotional issue for the American People. As we finally leave afghanistan, we need to make sure we are communicating effectively and honestly with the American People about the departure and what will come next. Thank you. Thank you. We are pleased to introduce our witnesses. He has more than 30 years of expenses as a prosecutor, congressional counsel senior federal government advisor. He was sworn in as a special july 2,r general on 2012. Johnson, in his role, he assesses u. S. Counterterrorism and security efforts focusing on afghanistan, pakistan, and other terrorist safe havens. Prior to this comment he was an assistant direct your in gao Homeland Security. He also spent the year detailed with the house of representatives and Homeland Security committee. We think the gentleman for his patience and expertise and waiting around. We are so pleased to yield to you now. Thank you very much. Members of the subcommittee, it is a pleasure to be here today to discuss my agencies oversight of reconstruction efforts in afghanistan. Todays hearing as you have noted is very timely. As you are well aware, we are in the middle of a pivotal transitional year in afghanistan. The political and economic transition will undoubtedly shape afghanistans future for many years to come. For instance, the president ial Runoff Election could result in the first peaceful democratic transition of president ial power in afghanistan history. Likewise, a few weeks ago, the president announced his plan to reduce our military presence to approximately 10,000 troops by the end of 2014 and by the end of 2016, the u. S. Presence in afghanistan will be reduced to a normal and the sea Operation Embassy operation. This is largely due to previous commitments made by the u. S. And International Community at the chicago and tokyo conferences come in addition to the weak state of the afghanistan economy and the limited capability of the Afghan Government to collect revenue. This is more than the u. S. Has ever spent to rebuild any single country in our history. To give this number some context, but the end of this year, we will have spent your money on Afghanistan Reconstruction than we did to rebuild europe under the Marshall Plan after world war two. This year alone, we plan to spend more money on Afghanistan Reconstruction and we spend on the next four countries that is israel, egypt, pakistan, and iraq combined. And on for scene consequence of this historic investment has been that we have infrastructure and a Security Force and the National Government that the afghans cannot currently assisting on their own. In government generates it needs as much as 10 billion annually to cover all government operations, including the important act in a national Security Forces. As a result, for many years to come, that the government will depend on external assistance from the United States and International Community to meet this budget shortfall. Accordingly, it is critical that an effective management and oversight remain a top priority for all u. S. Agencies has proved here to enter a post 20 post 2014 reality in afghanistan. This is extremely important given that appropriated reconstruction funds remains to be spent by u. S. Agencies as of march 30 1, 2014, including approximately 7 billion by the state department and usaid. Today, cigar and the oversight comrades at gao already contending with the restricted based on our best estimate, less than 20 of afghanistan will be accessible to civilian oversight personnel in december of this year. That is more than a 50 increase since 2009. We are developing innovative methods to respond to the security environment. The oversight must be missioncritical. If it is not, the historic investment we have made to date and the aliens more yet to be sent will be significantly vulnerable to possible waste, fraud, and abuse. They do her the opportunity to testify. Thank you very much. Mr. Johnson. Theanking members of subcommittee, i am pleased to be here to discuss key issues. Has issuedto mop gao special publication in 2013 highlighting key issues for oversight. There are briefings on u. S. Efforts in afghanistan. We have made over 150 recommendations on actions that should be taken to improve program planning, management, and oversight. I would like to highlight a few key issues. Among them are the need to mitigate against key risk of inviting assistance to the Afghan Government to, and as the chair noted, including the need for a database and the need for Contingency Planning as the u. S. Transitions to a per dominantly civilian let residents. Alone with u. S. Other International Members ledge to provide at least 50 of its developmental assistance. This was contingent on certain controls being in place. We reported in 2011 that the u. S. Would fulfill its pledge by tripling in the first year. Going from about 47 million to about 1. 4 billion in fiscal year 2010. We report that while they had established and comply with various internal controls, it had not always assessed the rest of at of providing direct assistance. Theesponse to recommendations, we have learned of the followon findings which approve direct assistance to some afghan ministries without mitigating against all identified risks. Regarding oversight and accountability of these Development Projects with respect to afghanistan since 2002, they have allocated more than 23 billion for these projects. While they have taken some steps to improve this evaluation effort, it continues to consistently not apply these Performance Management issues. They fell short of maintaining Institutional Knowledge in some areas. Member noted in his opening statement, to avoid the potential overla